FateAmbition
by Sierra166048
Summary: Following the end of Heaven's Feel, Shirou finds himself somewhere else. Or is it sometime else? Or both? A man who once wanted to be a hero above all else, comes face to face with one history's most vilified figures. Except he's a she and doesn't appear to be a bloodthirsty conqueror.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or any of its variations, nor do I own Ambition of Oda Nobuna. I'm to tired to remember who owns them so blahh.**

He was in a field of green. The tall grass waved gracefully in the wind. It was almost surreal to him. His last memories before his awakening was sacrificing himself to destroy the grail. He should be dead. Was this land perhaps Avalon? It fit what he thought it would look like and what Saber had described to him. The vast green plains with the forest just resting on the edge.

The scenery fit. Well, what he could see with his blurred vision. He wasn't much concerned with his vision currently, Archer's arm had been uncovered and he could feel it encroaching on his soul and threatening to destroy him. He fumbled with his right arm for the Shroud of Martin. The red cloth on his arm was splayed about and so it took some work to wrap his arm.

Just as he finished and pulled himself into a sitting position, a yell caught him. There were two men standing above him in red samurai armor with their swords drawn. Fool, Shirou called himself. Where had his instincts forged in the dangers of the Holy Grail War go? Pain was no object that he shouldn't have been able to push through. While his hands were open ready to trace some blades, he wouldn't be able to finish them in time to stop the already descending blades.

Luck was on his side however as another person yelled and jumped from the high grass, tackling the two swordsman to the ground. The surprise attack gave Shirou the time to leap to his feet and let the hammer in his mind drop to trigger the tracing of two swords. They were nameless weapons, simple long swords that Archer at some point in his life had laid his eyes on. They weren't even Noble Phantasms, just plain swords and so required little prana to trace. Besides, at the moment he could feel his circuits protest heatedly under making these simple swords.

The man in front of him had recovered from the other man's tackle. Thus Shirou faced him with his dual swords in his hands. The sword the samurai in front of him was a plain blade, nothing magical and with little history. Its owner hadn't even used it enough for it to be recognized as 'his' sword. Despite this, the samurai had some skill and observed Shirou's stance before charging with his katana leading. The man had his katana ready to strike at an opening in Shirou's stance, just as Shirou had planned. It was Archer's style, his style, developed to fight those who were stronger and faster than him. There was no trouble in blocking the katana with his left sword before moving in with his right sword. The enemy samurai was skilled, and his initial attack was a testing strike, little more than a feint, making it easy to pull back and block. Their fight followed in much the same process, the samurai would strike at an opening where Shirou would block and launch his own attack and then be blocked in return. Shirou was still exhausted, from what, he didn't know, but it would have something to do with his exhausted circuits. In addition to his exhaustion, the stress of the Shroud and Archer's arm was still present, burning, cutting and stabbing him. He wasn't sure himself if he could hold out long, the long swords being weak prana constructs and his current physical state both factoring in.

It happened in an instant, the left long sword went to block an overhead strike but shattered into prana under the stress, with the Samurai's katana hindered only for a moment before continuing on down to cut off Shirou's arm. However, Shirou's arm was wrapped in the Shroud of Martin, a Holy Shroud. It was a powerful, both physically and conceptually, and so had no trouble stopping a mundane katana, no matter how sharp. The man's surprise was evident on his face, allowing for Shirou to seize the moment and strike back. His remaining sword shot forward and ran through the man's chest.

For Shirou, even though he had given up slightly on his ideal to save everyone by saving Sakura, he still wished to save people, and killing someone went against that wish. He allowed himself a moment of silence for the dead man. He turned to his left to see his savior had finished off the second man just then. The remaining long sword, still slick with blood, pointed downward at the ground. Shirou didn't let it fade into prana just yet. "My thanks for saving me…"

"Kinoshita Toukichiro" The man replied. Unlike the other samurai, he wore black armor with no helmet, revealing an average sort of face, brown hair, brown eyes, but it did have a strong rectangular set to it. His name was familiar to Shirou.

"Well, thank you for saving me again Kinoshita-san. I am Emiya Shirou."

"It was nothing Emiya-san, but I thought I was saving a fellow soldier. But never mind, you seem like a good sort, we need to run, it's not safe out here." Kinoshita had a friendly smile. It was then that Shirou noticed the thick mists and the loud noise around him. It was filled with the sounds of battle, horses charging, swords clashing and the bang of rifles. Shirou let Kinoshita lead him as they dashed through the tall grass and morning mist.

Shirou felt it before it happened. Archer had called it the Eye of the Mind, a sort of heightened sense of observation. Shirou had inherited his from Archer through their soul resonance and through the presence of his Arm. It split the air behind it, a single musket ball that whizzed from over his shoulder and into the back and out the chest of Kinoshita. Shirou watched the man fall in slow motion, blood falling from the wound. It was lethal, but not instantly. Shirou rolled him over on to his back and grabbed the man's hand in his. The man would die, but he could give him some comfort before his death.

"Shirou. You're a good man. I can tell. Can you grant a dying man his wish?"

"Of course, you saved me after all." Why not anyway, a man who had saved him and Shirou had been unable to repay the favor. It was no question.

"I have a dream. A dream to have a country and a castle… and all the girls. You fulfill it for me!" Despite Shirou's addled mind, he could tell in some corner of it that this man was a bit of an idiot. But he had agreed to the man's request, it wouldn't do to back out now.

"I will Toukichiro." Shirou gave him a reassuring smile.

"I know. You can do it Shirou." The man's eyes closed and he drifted away. Then it struck Shirou, the man's name, Kinoshita Toukichiro. He stood up as it did so. The man was Hideyoshi Toyotomi, famed for ended the Sengoku period of Japan. Did that mean Shirou was in the past? He would be sometime in the 16th century. It wasn't impossible, he had heard that the Fifth Magic was capable of doing so. Then he had destroyed the Holy Grail and who knew what could that magical wish granting device could do when finally destroyed and all its energies gone.

Shirou was interrupted in his thoughts as a horse crashed through the grass next to him. He only got a quick glance as it rode past. The horse was an elegant white, and its rider was a female with blond hair. From the way she carried herself on the horse, for a second, memories of Saber arose in his mind, of a blond girl wielding a golden sword. But they were quickly extinguished when he took another look at the girl. Girl wasn't so accurate, she was more of a young woman, wearing a cloak of brilliant red trimmed in gold and dark black armor under.

The woman was followed by another rider on a black horse, wielding a long naginata. The two clashed and both managed to strike down each other's horse. The woman landed gracefully, sword at the ready. She was followed by the red armored rider, who descended with a mighty downward slash, which the woman blocked with her sword. Luck was not on her side, as her blade cracked and split in half. The fragment spun through the air and stuck in ground in front of Shirou. She managed to move out of the way, still presenting a brave front with her half a sword to the advancing samurai.

Attacking a near-defenseless woman? That wouldn't do. While Shirou didn't have much knowledge of the situation, what he saw in front of him still struck him as wrong. So he leaped in front of the girl, the blooded long sword held in front of himself threateningly.

"Stop right there! One doesn't just strike down a defenseless woman!" He yelled out at him.

The soldier paused, "Are you a soldier of Oda as well?"

Another soldier on horseback rode up beside the man, "Of course he is, look who he's protecting you dolt. Just finish them already!"

"Alright, alright," His fellow replied, annoyed, before launching himself at Shirou. The already weak sword broke under the first blow and vanished in specks of prana.

"_Trace On_" Shirou spoke and the trademark hammer sparked again as his circuits burned once more. The long sword remaining faded to be replaced with twin long swords, different from the others, these actually had some legend to them, appearing again in his hands as he deflected a sideways slash before slashing downward with his other sword. The man he was facing was tired, obviously having faced a long battle and so Shirou took advantage by following up with another downward slash, again and again, each strike slowly moving higher and higher, before the man's sword was overextended into too high of a block. Shirou had seen this technique through the mind of Archer and the words he had traced. The two nameless long swords were nothing but tools for a man that had developed the technique that required dual-wielding blades. So he followed the technique and skill granted to him by the swords as he ended his last slash and pivoted on the balls of his feet with two simultaneous stabs into the man's gut. He announced the technique as it was finished, "Double Thrust Low!"

His opponent, with his arms high in the air, was in no position to parry or block and was thus subsequently dead. Shirou removed the twin swords to let the soldier drop to the ground. For a second, Shirou pondered how he had been able to do so, before he again erupted into pain from Archer's arm. Again it had caused him to draw too much on Archer's abilities, making him think he was on the level of a Heroic Spirit when he wasn't. Luckily he hadn't done anything too risky, only used more prana for the nameless Noble Phantasms in his hands. The pain in his circuits would pass, they had a knack for being able to work at and sometimes above their limits.

Shirou brought the swords to his side and looked about for the second soldier he had seen on horseback. Instead he saw another woman warrior wearing shiny silver armor over blue cloth. She was astride a brown horse and held a long halberd in her hands, a strange weapon for sure to be found in japan. But of most interest, embarrassingly to Shirou, was the woman's large chest. Somehow her breastplate seemed to bounce as if it were just a piece of clothing.

She gave Shirou a look for a second then shifted her face to the blond haired beauty behind him. "The enemy is beginning to run, shall we give chase?"

"Yes, finish the battle." The woman replied and her counterpart gave a curt nod before dashing off toward the sounds of battle. Shirou felt a hand grip his shoulder and turn him to look into the face of the blond woman. "As for you, what is your name?"

Her face was authoritative, and it reminded Shirou so well of Saber that if she had the same piercing green eyes he would have found himself lost in his memories. Well enough that she had brownish gold eyes, eyes that, strangely enough, resembled his own.

"Emiya. Emiya Shirou."

"Well then Emiya-san, I must thank you for saving my life, unneeded it may have been. But," Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him, "I don't think you would mind if you came with me to answer some questions, would you?"

He understood her meaning well enough he was the suspicious one, strange clothes, strange outfit, strange weapons, and so on. "Yes, it would be no... Ugh." The events before and after his waking had caught up to him. The exhaustion in his body and the pain in his circuits collectively caused him to pass out, swords fading into prana and body falling only to be caught by two strong but lithe arms.

* * *

She stared at the boy, or rather young man, in her arms. His body was hot and drenched with sweat. His hair was a strange red tinted with white. Most strange was his outfit. He had blue trousers made out of a strange material, a white and blue shirt that covered only his right arm with a strange red cloth only on his right. Then his eyes, like liquid gold they appeared to her. A handsome young man there was no doubt, and just like a knight out of the barbarian tales who came valiantly in to save the princess' life. Strange then, she thought, that it would be him to pass out in her arms.

Oh well, her questions and suspicions could wait for the time being. Besides, he seemed like the good sort anyway and was skilled with a blade. Perhaps she could recruit him to be a retainer for the Oda family, and from the way he made those swords and then they had disappeared, he had skill with magic as well, something that would be always useful. Oh, but she couldn't have him feeling to important, as good as he could be, as important, he was still in the whole of things, unneeded, so she could give him a nickname, something degrading, something like... Monkey. Yes monkey would do well.

He could be Oda Nobuna's monkey.

* * *

Once again he woke in an unknown place. At least this was more comfortable then waking up on the ground in a field of grass. This time he was in a room similar to the olden style Japanese rooms, complete with tatami mats, futon and a shoji, a sliding door.

He checked over his clothing, there was nothing wrong but for a couple holes he had received from before and after sacrificing himself to stop Avenger, and the shroud was still securely fastened to his arm. Shirou waited in the futon for a few minutes to see if anyone would be coming to see him. He didn't want to cause trouble by wandering off now did he? He used the time to focus on the arm. The barrier was in place, as was the one Rin had placed, back to being fully functioning, which it hadn't the last time he had awoke. Not that it made much difference, her interference had been set to maybe last up to a week and it was nearing that deadline. Soon it would be gone and then he would have to deal with all the troubles of the arm.

No one came so he opened the shoji to see a young girl standing guard outside his door. She was very small, couldn't be any more than 12 years old, and her outfit was rather flamboyant, being composed of a large tigers head atop her head and long violet tresses falling on the sides of her face to her shoulders, the rest of it followed the trend of bright colors enhanced by few dark colors. He did obviously notice on her right side was a spear fit to her height, or rather named, a yari. For a second he analyzed it and he gleaned that it was mundane in nature but its owner was extremely skilled.

His opening of the door caused her to stare at him and so they watched each other for a couple seconds. Shirou decided to take the first step, "Hello, I am Emiya Shirou, what's your name?"

"Maeda Toshiie." Her voice was quiet but firm. "Are you well Emiya-san?"

Shirou would have to say her quiet voice with the oversized tiger head made seem very cute, so it was easy for him to give a nice smile to the girl. "Yes, as far as I can tell."

"Good. You are to meet with Nobuna-sama." The girl turned and began walking down the hallway. Maeda was a quiet girl who didn't speak more than what was needed, Shifou thought and quickly followed the girl down the hall.

The two arrived in a large hall, used for meetings and major events. Already seated inside were three other woman, two on each side so as to sit in deference to the leader, the blond girl who was on an upraised part of the floor. Maeda moved to sit seiza next to the other woman he recognized from yesterday. The woman had foregone her heavy armor from yesterday or a solid blue kimono. Opposite her, was someone he did not recognize, a girl with light violet hair, blue, nearly grey eyes and scarlet bows in her hair. It was clear to Shirou that he was to sit opposite the blond, as if presenting himself for audience. Shirou almost sputtered at her outfit, with her green haori resting on a single shoulder revealing half of a lacy black bra to the world. All three girls were sitting seiza while his host was sat in a halfway attentive, but halfway laid back position by leaning forward ever so slightly, right arm rested on a circular cushion and left hand holding a olden style musket on her shoulders.

Shirou went forward with his own greetings, bowing his head to the floor, "Hello. I thank you for your hospitality in letting me use a room, please, let me introduce myself. I am -"

"Emiya Shirou" The blond interrupted him, "My retainers already know your name and how could I, Oda Nobuna, Head of the Oda Clan, forget the man who so valiantly defended me when my katana had broken in half."

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly in slight embarrassment, "Yea, sorry if I inconvenienced you in some way," then it occurred to him that she had called herself the Head of the Oda Clan. "Oda Nobuna, is there not an Oda Nobunaga?"

She looked back quizzically at him, "No, there is only me, Oda Nobuna."

A few days ago, Shirou would've been more surprised, but after facing legendary heroes and summoning up King Arthur, or rather Arturia, he wasn't that surprised that this figure of history was wrongly recorded as male. "It's nothing, now I remember you had questions to ask of me, but before then, could we do introductions, you all know me, but I do not know you."

"Very well, on your left closest to you is Nagahide Niwa, my tactical advisor." She gave him a playful smile. "You've met Inuchiyo," the tiger topped girl who simply looked at him. "And finally this is Katsuie Shibata, my cavalry leader." The woman gave an efficient nod.

Shirou nodded and smiled to each of them, "It is a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Now then, onto the questions." The air took on more tense air, not so much, but it was noticeable. "Emiya Shirou, while your name isn't so, your outfit is strange. Where are you from?"

Shirou expected this question, but hadn't given much thought to the answer. He could say he was from the future, but it was an outlandish answer and likely they wouldn't believe him. He could spin some tale, but he hadn't really come up with one, and he was never that good at lying, that was Rin's job. Oh well, he'd been called crazy and an idiot before, it's not like it would be much trouble to take it some more.

"I'm from the future." Shirou was expecting someone to laugh and wasn't disappointed. Niwa let out a loud guffaw, while the other leveled a serious glare at him that said, 'not amused.'

"I know it sounds weird, but it's true, somehow I've been launched about 400 years into the past."

Nobuna had a serious look on her face, "If you really are from the future, then tell me something that will prove so."

Shirou cradled his head in thought. While he hadn't been much of a history buff, but during the Holy Grail War he had taken it upon himself to learn more about history, simply to know about legendary heroes. He tried to recall what he remembered about Oda Nobunaga (or rather Nobuna) had done in her conquest to unify Japan.

"Have you met with Saitou Dousan yet?"

Nobuna looked at him with a raised eyebrow, her interest piqued. "No, but we are in talks."

For Shirou that was good, it gave him a good idea of when he was during the campaign to unify Japan. "Ok, eventually you two will have a face to face meeting. Its location will be at Shoutokuji Temple."

Nobuna's stared intensely at Shirou. Studying him to find fault with him or the answer. Niwa provided an answer for her, "We been trying to get together for a face to face meeting. As I recall, tomorrow or the next day we are supposed to be getting a response on such an event."

Nobuna followed her statement, "Very well. We'll have to confirm or deny this later. Now for other questions. Why did you fight to defend me? We don't know you, so there is no connection between us, unless you had… ulterior motives."

Shirou actually chortled at that bit. "Ah, well it's kind of a part of who I am. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to save people. To be a hero."

It was Niwa who responded to his statement this time. "A hero! What a wondrous goal. He's a cute little guy too, eh Nobuna?"

"That kind of dream is rather idiotic though. But you can't fault his dedication. He collapsed in front of me." Nobuna said with a natural face. Then it shifted into a smile, "I like you though, you are funny and interesting. How would you like to work for the Oda family?"

For many, a chance to serve the Oda family would be an honor, Oda Nobuna was well known among the populace for being kind and honest. However, Shirou knew that Nobuna, Nobunaga in the future, was remembered as being one of the more brutal of the warlords during the Sengoku period. But, this young lady in front of him didn't seem so mean, as bloodthirsty as was remembered. So that meant something happened, something had changed her to the harsh person she would be remembered as. For Shirou this was the chance to change that. While he had given up the chance to sacrifice one for the many, forsaking the path that his Father had taken, that his alternate self had taken, he still held onto that ideal of saving. It was ironic to him, if he could save this one, he could save many. That thought brought a wide smile to his face. "Yes, it would be an honor to serve you."

Nobuna smiled a smile that reminded Shirou of Rin too much, it sent a shiver down his spine. It was that sweet looking smile that hid some sinister intention. "But, we can't just put you as a general can we, so right now, I have decided that you are Monkey. Spouting that nonsense about saving people and being from the people makes you the weird and idiotic one. As for your duties… Ladies, any suggestions?"

It was Katsuie who asked something this time. "Do you have any other skills than fighting?"

Shirou liked this question, being able to fight was all good and well, but he took a large amount of pride in his other abilities as well. "Well as a matter of fact, I am pretty good at repairing things and cooking."

"Monkey, you are a weird person, fighting, cooking, repair and heroism?"

Shirou turned to Nobuna to answer her, "Well, I prefer the term distorted. But yes, I am."

The odd way Shirou referred to himself caught her for a bit, but Nobuna caught herself quickly enough and made a decision, "Very well, we don't have many good cooks, so we will test your abilty to cook and if it is satisfactory you shall the cook for the army. Understood Monkey?"

Shirou gave a swift bow, "Yes, Nobuna-sama."

* * *

With all those troubles out of the way, Shirou quickly found himself moved out to a new home. It was a small little hut, but for Shirou, who had found the large home he had inherited from his father to be rather distracting and lonely with its size, thought it was rather homely. It turned out to be part of an inn and the innkeeper had an adorable little daughter named Nene that Shirou took an immediate liking to her. Nene resembled his adoptive sister, Ilya, not in looks but more in personality. The adorable little girl had even taken to calling him 'Onii-chan.'

Shirou also had his own personal ninja now, a cute little thing called Hachisuka Goemon. The girl had made a pact with Kinoshita Toukichiro that the two of them would use each other's skills to advance in the world. Shirou took over his role and now Goemon was partnered with him. She even had a large group of faithful workman ready to listen to whatever she said.

All in all, the last day had been very eventful and full of things to do. Today would be the day he was tested for his cooking skill. Cooking in olden Japanese style wouldn't be too hard. He had experimented with it once or twice and found a couple of dishes that he liked to make.

He was lead in by Inuchiyo to an open air kitchen and he had two assistants to help him. One was a young man name Sanzoku and an older woman name Miho. Now, he had his workspace, and his team. His mission, make a meal for Nobuna-sama and her retainers.

After a long few hours in the space the meal had been finished. It was a set of a few dishes, mostly japanese, but Shirou had introduced some other dishes he knew well. For an appetizer course he had done gyoza and miso soup. He had done a form of Pho for a noodle dish, tempura and other fried goodies, rice and for dessert, daifuku.

While the dishes may have been simple, it was with Shirou's skill in cooking that they transcended such simplicity. Shirou had learned to cook in order to avoid his father's horrific adventures into the kitchen and plain take out. Being the good man he is, he took pride in this skill and endeavored to master it, and when he faced competition in this skill from Rin in the Grail War only drove him further. His skill grew great enough that the King of Knights, Arturia Pendragon herself would proclaim his cooking, delicious. So it is without a doubt that once the first bite was taken by Nobuna and her retainers, that it began an all-out war for the rest of the food.

Shirou watched them eat from the sidelines while assisting the servants with serving the food. That bright look Nobuna had on her face when she took her first bite warmed his heart. Making people happy through food was easy, if only he could do so with his other skills in life. He noted that even those stoic and proper members of Nobuna's council like Inuchiyo had their facades broken slightly by the good food. The small girl was eating with a fun fierceness over her portions.

One of the old cooks, an elderly matron that was tasting his food approached him. "Sir, Your cuisine is stupendous, I request of you, take me as a student so I can learn to cook as well as you."

"I'm sure you have your own techniques, maybe we can exchange sometime," Shirou replied happily.

"While not as good as directly learning, it is still good, thank you young man, I look forward to doing so." The woman then promptly returned to the delicious food in front of him.

Soon enough, the meal had ended and the dishes cleared, Shirou found himself sitting before Nobuna and her retainers like the day before.

"Monkey, you downplayed your cooking abilities yesterday, who knew you could've crafted such a masterpiece out of simple things." Nobuna said.

"For an outstanding meal, ninety points." That was Niwa.

"I wasn't expecting much from the Monkey, but it seems he has some skill." Katsuie added in her own remarks.

Inuchiyo gave a simple nod and shortly spoken, "Good."

Shirou accepted their praise with a smile and a nod.

A small silence passed as they studied Shirou until Nobuna called for their attention, "Alright, I've made my decision. Monkey is going to be my personal cook, while also teaching the other cooks to cook like himself."

"A good idea, eighty points. Now, onto other matters, the men have been" As Niwa began her reporting, Shirou took the time to move from the center to the side, next to Niwa.

The sound of rapidly approaching feet from outside interrupted Niwa. They stopped and at the open shoji door was blue haired girl in a short pink kimono tied with a violet cloth in an obi on her back. "Reporting."

Everyone looked to the girl and Nobuna acknowledged her by with, "Go ahead."

"Mino Province has just sent a message confirming and setting a location for a conference. The location is, Shoukitouji Temple." Both Katsuie and Nobuna startled a bit at the declaration, remembering what Shirou had said the day before.

"How impressive Monkey-san, ninety points," Niwa said to fill the silence that followed.

Nobuna glanced to Shirou with a slight bit of flush from embarrassment, thinking on how she had disbelieved him the day before. She still managed to get out though, "Monkey, how did you know?"

Shirou took a slight teaching stance, reminiscent of how Rin would explain to him magecraft, "Well, historically, the meeting between you and Saitou Dousan is a meeting that begins your path to unifying Japan. Some records say differently, but most, and what is taught, say you two had a meeting at Shoukitouji Temple. And," Shirou paused in his speech for a second, recalling some of the more obscure information on the meeting, "Dousan is said to have been lying in ambush for you, however, you made a show of arms and he canceled the ambush."

The new information drew Nobuna deep in thought, "An ambush you say? And a show of arms…"

Niwa added, "Well the obvious choice would be to bring more troops, but in the thin paths and tight forests of the valley, more would be unwise."

"Well, I am planning on bringing at least 500 rifleman, and since the enemy is planning an ambush... If they are driven off by a show of arms then its doubtful that Dousan is serious about the ambush. We'll have to show our fighting spirit somehow. We have to send a message saying that we are ready for anything and we can do that by marching with our guns' fuses lit." Nobuna said.

"That poses the danger of the rifle blowing up in the soldier's face." Niwa interjected.

To Shirou, such a danger was minor. He knew gunpowder weapons of the era had some malfunction errors, but as long as the weapons in question were well taken care of and properly handled the chance of such a thing happening was minor. He stated as such. ". Guns aren't that prone to misfires, and any experienced or adequately trained user can avoid them easily enough."

"The soldiers of the Oda clan are of the best. It will be no trouble then." Nobuna decided before asking, "Now, who will accompany me to the meeting?"

* * *

In the end, Niwa and Katsuie were to be staying back in Owori to ensure its affairs ran smoothly. Attending the meet with Nobuna would be Shirou and Inuchiyo. The three found themselves riding through the valley along to the meeting, the fuses of the riflemen having been lit a few minutes earlier. For Shirou, it was most interesting, he had lived in Fuyuki for his whole life. While not lacking in the wilderness aspect, what wild areas there were held strong disturbing feelings in them, reminiscent of the strong magecraft that had been performed in them over the years. In his time in Fuyuki, Shirou had spent more time wandering the streets then going out into the woods. But in this era, with industrialization a couple centuries away, Japan was in its natural state. So while keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings, he found the lush woodlands to be enjoyable.

Nobuna however was in thoughts of meeting Dousan and the man to her side. "Monkey, beyond your skills and your strange saving people thing, I don't know much about you. Do you mind telling me something along those lines?"

Shirou gave her a calculating look, trying to understand what she wanted. She appeared to be only interested on the basis of getting to know each other better. "Well, I am adopted actually."

Nobuna quirked an eyebrow at that. The way he said it implied a story behind it. "Really? The subject sounds to be interesting for you."

He gave a bittersweet smile at that. "Actually it is. It is from my adoptive father that I have that 'strange saving people thing' as you say. You see, I lost my parents in a fire when I was five. It… was a terrible fire. It destroyed everything within a block and I was the only survivor. While I can't remember anything from before it I can remember that day clearly. Everything around me died, everything but me. I pushed on passed the dieing, ignoring their cries for help. The fire continued to rage and ashes filled my nose and eventually the sounds of the dieing stopped and I couldn't push any longer. In the end I gave up."

Nobuna interjected at this point, "Giving up? I would not take you as such a person."

"Oh? At that time I was not as I am. Continuing the story however, while I was at the moment, half between life and death, he came. Emiya Kiritsugu. I heard him give thanks to being able to save me and I saw his pure smile as he did so. I asked myself, what could make him smile so? I would do what I could so I could bear that same smile. Later on I learned that he had smiled like that because at the time, he had gone into the fire looking for someone to save. Anyone. And he had found me. It was a part of his wish to be a hero. He was an inspiration to me that lead me to swear to become a hero and fulfill his dream where he had failed. That is part of the story of how I became who I am today."

"A fine man then. It would have been an honor to meet him. It is sad that I wouldn't get the chance."

"It is, but what about you Nobuna-sama, what is your family like?"

Immediately upon asking the question did Shirou know he had said something wrong. Nobuna had turned away from him sharply, looking downward. While unskilled with woman, helping someone was something that came instinctively. He reached out a hand to her, "Sorry about asking. I can understand if family is a harsh subject."

Nobuna steeled herself and pushed his hand away before she looked back to him. "No, it's alright. My family isn't ideal. But it is ok, because I have my friends and retainers, Inuchiyo, Machiyo and Riku with me."

"I understand. How about we move onto a different subject?" Shirou said with a smile and a nod.

Nobuna chuckled at his attempt change the conversation. He was such an honest person. "What a shameless attempt to change the mood. But if you want to, why don't you come up with something?"

Shirou paused for thought before finally saying, "Well in that case, what, do you know of western civilization?"

"Actually, there was this one barbarian that came here and taught me many things. He was a good man and someone I'm glad to have known." A smile had crept onto her face and her response was filled with energy.

"That's good then, did he tell you any folk tales, fairy tales or the like?"

"Ah! Yea, there was this one I really liked. It's been a long time since I last heard it though. It was a really good story about a king uniting his country."

That detail caught Shirou's attention. "I may know that story, do you remember anything else about it?"

"Hmm…" Nobuna's face shifted into a cute little pout as she tapped her head in thought. "The king was called Aster or, Arbor or… or Arthur! Arthur was his name!"

Shirou smiled when she recalled the name and silently patted himself on the back. "Ah, I do know that story actually. I know it very well, you could say, almost personally."

"Oh really, well then, you'll have to tell me some other time. It would appear that we are here. And with no trouble either." They had arrived.

**This is something that I came up with after watching Ambition of Oda Nobuna a few months ago. I came back to it and gave it a little edit to fix some details about Shirou. I'm not sure if I got all the things correct so if you want to point them out go ahead. This is likely to be continued. But later, a lot later. I like to think how Shirou would do in place of Yoshiharu. And when I do I think of how wildly Shirou would change history beyond what Yoshiharu does already. While the two's ideals are different, they both have the thing about 'saving' going on. With Shirou in his place, he wouldn't be as ineffective as Yoshiharu was, as he would have some power, but that would also lead to different solutions because Yoshiharu relied on his knowledge from the game and had to come up with intuitive solutions. Shirou in this comes from the 'Normal' Heaven's Feel ending I believe. I can't remember exactly since its been forever since I played the visual novel. I'm not sure how I would pull of a pairing in this, because Shirou from Heaven's Feel is devoted to Sakura, and with him being romantically dense, if he developed any bit of feeling for the characters of Ambition, he would be doubtful as to what they were and would the ignore any romantic feelings they had for him. Which would be further harder to see in the case of the two Tsunderes of the series, Juubei and Nobuna herself. **

**So, thanks for reading and please leave a review on your way out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Read the first page.**

**Wow, I'm surprised at the popularity of this. Surprised enough that I got off my ass to finish up the second chapter that was sitting around with a couple of pages written. Except the chapter length started running away on me so I decided to cut this short and end at a reasonable point. **

Shirou was understandably suspicious of the meeting between Nobuna and Saito Dousan. From what he knew of the history, Nobunaga had been put into a politically motivated marriage between him and Dousan's daughter Saito Nohime. This was sometime before the events of the meeting between Dousan and Nobunaga at Shoutokuji temple. Of course that fact had already thrown Shirou for a loop, since Nobunaga was Nobuna, who had no romantic connections and there was no sign of a Saito Nohime around. Nobunaga was Dousan's son-in-law through his daughter's marriage, but if that didn't exist then where did their relationship stand? The two families were held in a shaky alliance established by Nobunaga father, Nobuhide, but the two families would go to war at some point in the following years. From what he recalled though, Nobunaga and Dousan had a fairly friendly relationship, leaving him to question from where this relationship developed. Would it be here, at this meeting? Or had it actually developed from how Nohime had been married to Nobunaga?

Shirou didn't have the answers to those questions and so contented himself with keeping a watchful eye out. Currently he found himself seated outside the main temple building next to Katsuie. Inside were both Dousan and his aide, Mitsuhide Akechi, another well-known figure of the Sengoku period and was also very well known for his eventual betrayal of Oda Nobunaga. That she was a girl didn't faze Shirou, because hey, if King Arthur can be a girl, Oda Nobunaga a girl and a lot of her retainers girls, then why not have another person be really a girl as well.

Akechi was dressed in a light and dark blue kimono, highlighted by a large bow on its front, and held herself in a stoic, noble manner. In contrast to others, and rather strange in itself was the boots Shirou had seen her wearing, they were of a western style, an interesting thing to note in Japan of this time period. The most eye-catching part was her violet hair, which reminded Shirou of Sakura and her violet hair. A few moments passed where instead of Akechi, Shirou saw Sakura sitting on the floor. Those few times Shirou flashed a circuit or two to insure that it wasn't an illusion and that yes, Sakura was not here and he should really stop being distracted by her. He would get back to Sakura someday, but he had no idea how to, from he recalled there weren't many legends of dimensional travel or time travel or extremely powerful magus' in the Japanese or Asiatic region. The only person he could exactly think of would be Zelretch, but who knew where that man would be during this time period.

Right now Shirou felt that Zelretch was his best bet, or something along it. The more time Shirou spent in the time period the more it felt like he had gone to a different dimension then back in time. Maybe he could do something with the Jewel Sword. He had seen and had stored it in his memories and it existed in Archer's memories. However Shirou was not able to understand the magic behind constructing it and had only managed to construct a copy through use of the blueprints and the memories Ilya held of the original sword. Even then the copy was several times an inferior copy. Perhaps with time he would though. It was based off of a magic, but it was a sword and if it was anything that Shirou knew, it was swords.

"There you are, Viper of Mino." The sliding of a door and Nobuna's voice brought Shirou out of his ponderings. Walking out was Nobuna, looking positively radiant in a pink kimono with flowers on its edges. He and the other people around were all surprised at her choice in clothing. Dousan himself was stumped, mouth open as he barely managed to stammer out a response.

"What? Bu-W-why? You're so beautiful…" He said, leaving his mouth hanging open as he still attempted to recover from shock.

"Oh… Did I surprise you?" Nobuna replied while turning to the side and posing with her hand underneath her chin.

Dousan merely nodded a franticly in response to her question.

Turning up the cute-factor by a few clicks, Nobuna smiled and tilted her head before prompting the waiting question, "Well?"

Dousan paused to take a deep breath before making an attempt to respond. "Why did you change your clothes?"

"I'm meeting the famous Viper of Mino. It would be wrong to wear my usual outfit." Nobuna said.

"I see," Dousan said while giving a nod and an amused smile creeping on his face.

Shirou noted the style of dress Dousan was wearing. In contrast to Nobuna's formal kimono, he was wearing one more casual. Thinking about it, Shirou would consider it logical to wear something of the sort when meeting Nobuna, considering the extremely, read exposing a black lacy bra extreme, casual look that she preferred. That made it only more surprising for Shirou to see her wearing something so formal. Wearing something of the sort was something that Shirou felt she would only do for those she most respected. Which would then include the Viper of Mino, Saitou Dousan. That then brought the thought, if she respects him so, one could make the inference that he in turn respected her by dressing down to her level.

Recalling his thoughts from before, Shirou concluded that this could be a beginning for the relationship the two held for each other. Outside, clouds began to roll in. Dousan began the discussion with asking about the guns that Nobuna's soldiers carried. With his knowledge of the future, Shirou gave an internal chuckle at when Dousan called them "barbarian toys." Those toys had redefined the Japan and on a larger scale, the world, bringing down the medieval era and becoming the ultimate equalizer between a king's knights and his peasants. In the face of charging soldiers or calvalry, a rotating squad of rifleman could hit them before they ever got close.

The conversation reached the point of alliance. "So, once you've allied with me, will you invade Suruga Province and Imagawa?"

"No. Mino." Shirou joined in on the gasps from Katsuie and Akechi at Nobuna's statement. With the Viper of Mino as an ally, such action would be absurd. Was she simply going to betray the Viper out of the box? Such an action was not something that Shirou would expect from the girl.

"Why focus on Mino province," Dousan asked, hiding any tension he may have had behind his calm face.

"Because of why you did so. The one who controls Mino province controls the nation." Nobuna stated. "Mino divides the country, east and west. Build a good castle there and the rest will fall into place." The harsh tone lining her voice vanished as she continued in a more calm tone. "To build a wealthy country, where merchants could move freely. Isn't that what you wanted?" A pause passed through the building.

"You know everything don't you?" Dousan asked.

In response Nobuna stood, authority evident in her stance as she declared, "I will take Mino Province."

A short burst of movement followed her. Katsuie and Akechi both grasped their swords while Inuchiyo readied her spear. Shirou held his hands open, ready to trace should he need to. Dousan held his arm out at Akechi, telling her to hold. Outside, the clouds that had come began to rain. Calmly, he returned his arm to its original position before asking, "Do you think I will give it to you?"

"What if I told you I would carry on your dreams for you?"

"What?" Dousan replied, with a hint of surprise creeping into his voice.

"I'll destroy the old system that plagues our lands," Nobuna stated with determination, "and turn this into a country that can compete with the barbarian nations."

The charismatic way Nobuna was giving her goals was filled with determination. For a moment, Nobuna wasn't with them any longer but lost in the vision she had for Japan.

"My focus is on the whole world."

Dousan gave a hearty laugh in response to her declaration. "So your gaze already lies beyond the sea?" He turned a judging gaze on her before continuing. "Your ideals are correct. But no one else will follow you there. The fact that they call you a fool demonstrates that."

"Regardless, I will continue."

"Even if it means destroying everything in your path?" Dousan stood up following his question, before looking at the determination written on Nobuna's face. He proceeded with a low, warning tone in his voice, "If you wish to start with Mino, I will accept your challenge."

Shirou looked between the two. He had thought that the two would form some sort of relationship, but it appeared that they would hold the sort of respectful enemy's style of relationship. And from his comment on her destroying everything, it appeared that it would be from here that Nobuna would begin that terrifying process of changing from the kind looking girl to the ruthless warrior in the history books. That was unacceptable, Shirou had decided he would help the girl and save others by saving her.

His mind flipped into overdrive, trying to devise a solution. The meeting at Shoutokuji temple had been a turning point in the two's relationship, that was obvious. But he knew that their relationship had not gone in direction of hostilities. But from what it appeared, the two sides seemed ready to fight. Nobuna would not back down, and neither would Dousan. From history he knew Dousan was supposed to send assistance to Nobunaga against the Imagawa and following that he would eventually leave Inabayama castle and the Saito throne. Which would the three main generals of the Mino Province. At his death, Dousan left Nobunaga the deed to Mino. That line of thinking however, Shirou did not know where to take it. There was something he could do. Someway he could prevent the two from fighting. What did he know about Dousan, a man from low origins, an "oil" merchant who went on to gain enough power to replace the dominant noble power in Mino. From what he understood, Dousan was good at understanding the flow of things and taking advantage of key points. He would know that he would lose against Nobuna. There it was. Shirou realized what he could do.

"That's what I want." Nobuna said.

"Wait!" Shirou yelled from his position. Everyone turned to him, with most giving him a glare at his uncalled for shout. Shirou stood up slowly before approaching, putting on the best authoritative attitude he could, emulating Saber. He stopped at about five feet from Dousan, close enough to exude his confidence and far enough that he could react properly should this turn south.

"What do you want young boy?" Saito asked while Shirou paused to calm himself.

Ignoring the insult, Shirou started, "I'm from the future. So I know you're going to lose and I'm sure that you know you're going to lose."

"Future?" Dousan asked skeptically while his retainer looked at Shirou doubtfully.

"Yea, future, it just means I know things you don't know and know more about you then others know. I know you know you can't win. So why fight against Nobuna? She's already said that she will fill out your ambition. Do you not have the desire to see it happen? If you go against her you'll die and your ambition lost. And don't give me any crap about how you doubt her. Nobuna can and will do it. I know, I've read about it. Eventually, you give her the province anyway. So save yourself the trouble and just do it now."

A long tense second passed as the rain outside began to pour and thunder boom. Shirou stared Dousan hard back in the eye, not backing down.

"Very well. It would seem I have lost. I did not expect someone from the future." Dousan finally said.

"Yea, you're pretty famous yourself, becoming a father figure to Nobuna-sama here." Shirou's mouth said casually before he had time to stop himself. As he finished processing what he said his hands shot up to cover his mouth.

"Just as I was planning anyway. I will prepare the treaty to give Mino to my new daughter, Nobuna-chan." Dousan declared after chuckling at Shirou's mistake.

* * *

Shirou spent the next hour watching the negotiations between the two sides. While Dousan was friendly and liked Nobuna quite a bit, he still was known as the Viper for a reason. The rush of the negotiations was a bit hectic for Shirou so he excused himself to find a nice quiet area to think. Surprisingly, he found a small archery range. Inuchiyo had followed him out there, leaving Nobuna, Katsuie, Akechi and Dousan to discuss the treaty.

In the range, Shirou looked wistfully at the targets, remembering simpler times of when he had been in the Archery club at Homuhara Gakuen. Flicking on his circuits and ignoring the minor discomfort they provided, he traced a simple yumi that he recalled using in the club. He formed a few arrows and then stuck them in the ground in a line.

While he didn't spend much time in the club, having been perfect at it due in part to the 'distortion' as Tohsaka called it. But the exercise for Kyuudo was calming, something to escape and to think on this situation. He shut his eyes as he began.

Step 1, Ashibumi, placing himself in line with the target, left side facing the target and an imaginary line leading from his toes to the target.

Today had been confusing. Whatever knowledge he had of history was quickly being thrown out the window. People not existing, others acting in different manners or others acting as they were thought to have. He couldn't rely on his knowledge, and so would sooner have to play it by ear. Not the most reassuring thing when he's trying to prevent someone's metaphorical fall to the dark side and save as many people in the process.

Step 2, Dozukuri, shoulders parallel to the imaginary line from his feet to the target and straightening of posture, back straight, a line straight from his shoulders to his feet.

He had already established himself in Nobuna's eyes, both as a warrior and here as a valued supporter. But he was still low in rank and in the paths Nobuna would walk, he would need a better position, so she would be more inclined to listen to his advice. He would have to gain her favor in some way other than using his knowledge of history.

Step 3, Yugamae, a three part process consisting of Torikake, gripping the bowstring with his right hand, Tenouchi, positioning his left hand for shooting on the bow's grip, and Monomi, turning his head to gaze on the target.

He had no particular skills but for his limited mage craft, sword fighting, archery and his cooking. The logical position to aim for would be some sort of general, but that meant being a leader which was something Shirou had never done. He never really lead during the War either, most tactical decisions were made between him, Saber and whoever else was joining them for something, be it Tohsaka, Ilya or Rider.

Step 4, Uchiokoshi, raising the bow above his head in order to prepare to draw.

Very well, if he had to be a leader then he would do so. He may not be able to be as good as someone like Saber, but he would make the effort. He had a start with Goemon didn't he? Well those men were more under her command but they just as easily follow him. And he had replaced Hideyoshi as it seemed. What with his death a few days ago and Shirou's new nickname of "monkey."

Step 5, Hikiwake, beginning the draw by lowering the bow, pushing with his left and pulling with his right.

While his historical knowledge was near worthless, it still had some uses. The history both recent and not so, had matched up to more of an outline of his knowledge. Nobuhide only had two children, Nobuna and Nobukatsu, so there was no Nobuhiro, Nobunaga's older brother and original heir to the Oda clan. Soon enough, Nobuna would be faced with inner clan problems, mostly stemming from her younger brother, Nobukatsu.

Step 6, Kai, finishing the draw with the string a touch under his cheekbone and the arrow pointed along the line toward the target.

Nobukatsu and his subsequent death at his older brother, or rather sister's hands raises an interesting point. Nobuna was a sweet girl now, but as foretold by history, would grow into a killer warlord. There were several points along her future that could cause the change, and this was one such point. Having to kill a beloved sibling could definitely change or influence her into changing her ways. Shirou could change that. So, stop Nobukatsu. Easy enough. If it came that he was unrepentant, he would deal with that when it came.

Step 7, Hanare, releasing the string and extending the right hand beyond the right arm.

His eyes were closed as he released, he had no need to see the target. Kyuudo was a spiritual and mental art. The goal is complete unity in mind and body. The steps do this by expanding one's self until they become one with the target. This aspect of the practice no problem for one such as Shirou. His distortion, his "no sense of self", that resulted in his alternate self's and mayhap his own Reality Marble was a representation of that. So it was without question that Shirou would hit the target and not only that, but hit where he knew he was going to hit.

_Fwp _went the arrow flying through the air. A dull thunk, signified his hit. Just as he didn't need to see the hit, neither did he need to see the arrow strike the center.

Step 8, the final step. Shirou skipped this step as there was no need for him. The step was to return to before he had begun, the original state of mind. For Shirou, his original state of mind was his current state of mind. So he began the process again, like a machine as he plucked the next arrow out of the ground to shoot. He finished the succession after he had shot a total of four times, four arrows in the target. It was then he opened his eyes. Just as he knew there were, four arrows had struck the center of the target, each one adjacent to the other and touching as if trying to dig the same hole in the target.

A content smile appeared on his face as he considered his work. The feelings from the negotiations were gone and his nervous thoughts on what to do in the period were as well. It was a complete feeling, he had a goal and he was ready to begin.

To his side Inuchiyo looked at the target with wide eyes before looking at him. "You are… good."

"It is nothing. Just a simple fact of life with me." He said before mentally letting the bow in his hands disappear into bits of light. The arrows on the target followed suit, the only memory of them being a single hole in the target.

"Monkey, Inuchiyo, we're going!" Nobuna's voice came from somewhere in the compound.

* * *

The next day arrived on cloudless skies. Shirou awoke early to the smell of Nene cooking a soup of Ukogi leaves.

"Good morning Nene-chan." Shirou joyfully called to her.

"You too Shirou-kun." She answered back.

"I'm going out for a while, I'll be back later." He said as he was walking out.

Her cheerful, "I'll save some for you," followed him.

Shirou would have offered his help to her in doing breakfast, but judging from the pot and the setup, there was nothing else to help with. So he was going to look for an area to practice. He found a nice open field for him to practice his swordsmanship, so he traced Kanshou and Bakuya and set to practicing the style his other-self had developed.

His practice took him the better part of the morning until he was sweat laden and his circuits fairly hummed with use after retracing Kanshou and Bakuya again and again. It was into this that Katsuie arrived. In his initial arrival to the time period, luckily only his pants and shirt had been damaged. The pants had been easily fixed with a few nice patches done by one of Nobuna's tailors but his typical blue and white long sleeve had one of its sleeves torn off and the rest of it had been beyond repair. So Shirou took to wearing a kosode and a linen belt to hold it in place.

When Katsuie arrived the knot holding the belt together had come loose causing the kosode to open up and from the angle Shirou was standing, afforded her a very nice view of his body and more directly, his starburst scar over the location of his heart. Katsuie hadn't been one of the people to help take care of him following the battle where Shirou had arrived and so hadn't been afforded the chance to see the horrific scar. She was understandably surprised at what she saw.

Shirou paused in his practice at the intake of her voice and looked over to see her staring at him. He looked down at his clothing, noting the problem before vanishing Kanshou and Bakuya and fixing the problem.

"Sorry about that Katsuie-san. Did you need something?" Shirou's voice alerted Katsuie out of her shock, her face quickly into its typical stern expression.

"Could you come with me?" She asked in a low tone. She turned around imperiously before starting to walk off. Shirou gave a small sigh before lightly jogging to catch up to her. The two walked through the town for a few minutes without a word between them.

"So, what do you need from me Katsuie-san?"

"Just a moment longer… and we're here."

Shirou glanced about, wondering why she mentioned that. There was a couple stands around, one selling ramen, another selling takiyoki, some kid was getting pampered by a group of girls, and townspeople were milling about in the streets.

"I don't understand Katsuie-san, where is here?" She turned to him with a bit of a tick in her eye before turning him to face the kid being fawned over.

"I'm Nobukatsu's aide, Nobuna's brother." Which would mean that the boy approaching them with a stick of rice jelly was Nobukatsu. Shirou observed the boy as he stopped in front of him and did so back. Nobukatsu looked like a kind enough kid. His hair showed the family resemblance between him and Nobuna, being only a small shade off from her brilliant blonde. And the girls that were serving him looked to have genuine smiles on their faces, so he must treat them nicely.

"So you're the monkey my utter boor of a sister has been carting around." He said with an air of superiority. It struck Shirou that the kid was almost Shinji-esque. They both had that better-then-you attitude and both had a sister with power, Sakura with her magecraft and Nobuna with the clan. Not to mention how the girls seemed to be hanging off of him, what was the kid, like twelve? On a basic level, he could see the redeeming traits between the two of them, jealous because their older sibling got more attention. It might explain as to why Nobukatsu held dislike for his sister. Of course that didn't excuse Shinji in any way, that thing was irredeemable after what Shirou had discovered. His face formed a frown at that thought. Katsuie poked him in the side.

"Uh, monkey?"

"Hm, oh what? Sorry I was lost in a thought," He said to her before turning back to give a bow to Nobukatsu. "It is a pleasure to meet you Nobukatsu-sama. Though as Nobuna-sama's servent, I would prefer if you did not refer to her in such a negative way."

"Hmph, my sisters a fool. Everyone calls her that. Why shouldn't I tell the truth?" He said with imperious toss of the head.

"It matters not what people think of her, whether it be a fool, murderer, genius or philanthropist. It is still unkind to speak of others in such a manner, most especially your sister. Would you not appreciate it if others did not call you mean things behind your back." Shirou explained.

Nobukatsu frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, the stick of rice jelly dangling out in the open. "Fine. Why do you care anyway? Have you fallen for her or something?"

Of course, to someone like Nobukatsu, a mere chef that had wormed his way into Nobuna's council would seem not have any real reason to defend her but for something as ridiculous as a crush. "No. While it may not be so very heroic, helping spread to people the value of simple kindness is still something good to do."

"Pffft, hahaha ha, you're such an idiot," He said with a demeaning smile. He turned to Katsuie when his humor had calmed down. "Katsuie, you were right when you told me that." Shirou raised an eyebrow at that before her eyeing her speculatively. She glanced away in embarrassment.

Nobukatsu called attention back to himself by letting out a final humorous snort. "Oh well. If I leave it to sister, she'll have Owari in ruins. Picking up someone like you only demonstrates that more so."

"Oh?" Shirou said with a quirked eyebrow, "And do you have a plan for Owari?"

The question rocked Nobukatsu back on his feet, having obviously not expected it and having no clear answer. "Uh… um… an advertising campaign for rice jelly!"

Shirou's quirked eyebrow drooped down in disappointment. "That's… pitiful really."

"I take it back," he announced but the shaky tone in his voice speaking for his lack of confidence, made even more obvious by the submissive stance he had taken. "Then, then, I'll defeat the Imagawa and Saitou!"

Shirou let out an exasperated sigh at that one, "Your sister is already doing that."

"Uh… I'll bring all the cute girls back to Owari…" Nobukatsu whispered after a pause, the doubtful uncertainty clear.

"And we're back to pitiful then. Nobukatsu-sama, I'm sure you could make a great daimyo someday. Right now though… you have nothing. One of the things that your sister has that you don't is certainty. You can see it in the way she steps and in the way she talks. She has no doubt, which separates herself from all others who call her fool." Shirou remembered the way she spoke back at Shoutokuji temple. In an era where modernity was beginning to take over the world and the Age of Gods was receding, the type of people who moved onto become Heroic Spirits were becoming less common. It was that quality of surety that would cause people like Nobuna to push on and so when they eventually died, they would take their place on the Throne of Heroes. "Now, Nobukatsu-sama, as I said, it was a pleasure to meet you. Ladies, it was nice to see you as well. Katsuie-san, thank you for bringing me but I do believe that the time now is when I am needed in the kitchen to cook lunch. I'll see you later."

Shirou walked away, a bit disrespectful, but he felt it made his point hit harder.

* * *

He arrived in the kitchens a few minutes later where he was greeted by the elderly matron from before.

"Hello Shirou-sama, it is good to see you again. I am Tohsaka Aoi" She said in a kindly tone.

Shirou started a bit at her name. Tohsaka, which would mean this was Rin's ancestor. The resemblance wasn't that clear, but then again this was an old lady whereas Rin was a young woman. Nor did the woman have that cunning smile on her face. A quick sniff verified the lack of prana in the air, which meant she wasn't a magus. "Ah, its ok Tohsaka-san, you can just call me Shirou, thank you though."

"Well in that case, you can just call me Aoi, ok Shirou-san?"

"That works well enough Aoi-san. Uh… you'll have to forgive me that I'm late, I got a little caught up." Shirou said with a hint of embarrassment. It wasn't his fault that Katsuie took to talk to Nobukatsu.

Aoi nodded in understanding, "That is no problem. The plan for today was to serve a simple meal of rice and sauce."

"That should do fine. Has the rice been started yet? And also what were you planning to do for the sauce."

Aoi waved for him to follow her. Out in the open air area there were a couple of assistants tending to some pots. "Well, we have the rice cooking in those, but we waited to decide on a sauce to see if you had anything interesting to choose."

Shirou looked about, hand on his chin as he paused in thought. "Hm... I do recall us having a nice variety of spices here… Aoi, I'll be right back."

"Ok," she said as he walked off to investigate the spices. About a minute later he walked back out.

"Alright, I think I'll be introducing something new to you all. Curry."

The assistants and Aoi all smiled in anticipation.

"What we do is once the rice is done, we stir it along with coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and red pepper. Other ingredients can be added, but for this one I thought we'd go with a little bit of miso. Sound good?"

All three of them, the two assistants and Aoi said a sharp "Yes," together.

"Alright. Aoi, I'm gonna need you to tell me how much rice we have going so that way I can calculate out the right amount of spices and miso needed. Let's get started."

* * *

The assistants and Aoi worked quickly and efficiently. Soon enough they had the curry finished and it was served. Shirou joined Nobuna and her retainers as they ate.

"So Shirou," Nobuna began, "I heard you met my brother today."

Shirou paused in his eating before turning to her to answer. "I did. I'm sure word of what we said between each other was already given to you." At the end he pointedly looked to Katsuie.

Nobuna blushed a bit as she recalled the praise given by Shirou. When Katsuie had told her, the integrity that Shirou had shown in his words toward her reminded her again of the similarities between him and a knight in the barbarian stories. Of course Katsuie had then mentioned Nobukatsu's final reaction after he had left. "Nobukatsu has been a troublemaker, rebelling once before I stopped him. I spared him that time, and now he looks to be doing so again."

Shirou placed his chopsticks on the edge of his plate as he rubbed his chin in thought, recalling the conversation between him and Nobukatsu. "From what I could tell, it seemed more like he was being coached to say things rather than voicing his personal views."

It didn't escape anyone's notice that Katsuie shifted a bit at that statement.

"I believe that to be the case, he has always been rather weak willed, more concerned with his treats and other luxuries. It is likely that my antagonists are using him in order to overthrow me."

"So what do you plan to do Nobuna-sama?" Shirou inquired.

"We'll wait. He hasn't done anything definite yet. But I do have a job for you Shirou. The army is running low on food supplies. I'm giving you three thousand kan. Use that to buy eight thousand koku. You have until the evening of the end of a week."

Nagahide shot Nobuna a look of suspicion, "Three thousand kan? At current market prices that will only afford four thousand koku. He'll have to double his money at least."

Shirou waved Nagahide's complaints to the side. "Don't worry. By the end of the week I'll have the eight thousand koku. I might as well get started. I'll see everyone later." Shirou stood up, gave a bow to Nobuna and proceeded to exit the building. Inuchiyo, pushed her meal away before following him out.

Nagahide turned back to Nobuna, partially hiding her face behind her fan. "Do you think he can do this?"

"Of course. Monkeys are clever little things aren't they," Nobuna replied with a sly smile.

"Solving the food supply problem as well as the complaints from the others advisers about the incompetency of your newest servant and by association, you, eighty points." Nagahide snapped her fan closed, revealing a smile that mirrored Nobuna's.

**So that's that. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Couple things I should address as to the story. Magic, magecraft, etc, I'm hand waving it to the side. My thoughts on the matter are, it exists and most people know it exists, with the widespread view being suspicious of it. Some people see it as a tool, and then there are other varying views on it. I don't really want to make it that big of a deal. There might be some plot points concerning it but that's all. If you want to know more go ahead and pm me.**

**Second thing, the history of the Sengoku Period. Since people like this story, I looked up the history of the period which I mostly threw out the window after remembering what happens in Ambition. Ambition of Oda Nobuna doesn't so much as follow Sengoku history but rather mishmash it together to form a plot. I mean, takoyaki wasn't introduced in Japan until the 20th century and the 'sniper' who shoots Nobuna has a teeny little scope and guns of the period were nowhere near accurate enough to pull that off. Sorry if that sounded like a rant almost. In line with this is the use of Japanese. I shifted to using suffixes cause it is a part of the Japanese Language that you don't really get in English. Other words I use are things that they don't really have a name for in English, like kosode being a style of clothing. But I'm not going to use things like 'baka' 'ecchi' or 'ohayo.' When I read those they always feel out of place so nope not here. **

**Third, minor thing, is I want to rename the story. FateAmbition sounds so generic to me. So I'll be thinking on that and if anyone wants to shoot me a suggestion go ahead and pm me. **

**Alright, if you have questions feel free to pm me or put it in a review. Thank you for reading. I really appreciate your reviews and like it when I get some constructive criticism back. **

**Also, ****Omake that I thought up cause this little idea wouldn't escape my head until I wrote it down. Might or might not appear. Wait and see.**

The group was in Nobuna's audience hall discussing their next move now that Shirou had successfully recruited Hanbei Takenaka. In attendance were Nobuna and her retainers, Katsuie, Nagahide, Inuchiyo, Shirou, Hanbei and Goemon lurking in the ceiling. Dousan had also joined them along with his retainer, Mitsuhide.

The discussion had gone off to a good start, with a well cooked meal by Shirou helping everyone get comfortable, but it was some time after the food had been finished and put away that something disturbed the atmosphere. In the center of the hall a rainbow of colors began to form in midair, spinning about like some deluded kaleidoscope. Gradually the colors took on a more coherent form, an oval, just tall enough for the average sized person to pass through.

The residents of the hall had each gotten to their feet in anticipation for whatever the colors entailed. Hanbei had a couple ofuuda readied in her hands, Goemon was lurking with ninja stars ready to be thrown and everyone else had drawn some manner of sword.

In the back of his mind Shirou was predicting for Zelretch to come through. What really happened was worse. A shadowy shape began to take form before it stepped out of the oval of colors. The twin-tail hair style was familiar, as was the red long sleeve shirt with a silver cross imprinted on it. As was the short black skirt accompanied by thigh high panty hose. Everything was familiar and it only pointed to only one person. "Tohsaka-san?" Shirou asked, the amazement and surprise obvious in his voice.

Tohsaka, now revealed to be the girl who had appeared, had been scanning the room before she heard his voice. Her head snapped to the side, a certain fire in her eyes that Shirou did not recognize. "Shirou!" She yelled out before dashing up to him, grabbing him in an intimate hug and kissing him full on… with tongue.

Unconsciously Shirou reacted to her actions by deepening the kiss and holding her as intimately she did him. Another second later when Shirou regained his senses he pushed her back and ended the kiss. He hadn't regained his senses enough to actually say anything. Instead she spoke for him in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Shirou. You have been gone for at least a week now. Which means I haven't had my fix in at least a week. You are going to take me to whatever accommodations you have procured here and I will fuck you silly or if you have none, I will do so right here."

**This is my thought on Rin following UBW either ending and mastering or developing the 2nd magic enough to use it. The background is Shirou from her dimension is sent flying across them by Zelretch, Ruby, Saphire, take your pick of method here. Rin and Shirou have a very active sexual relationship so Rin has some needs to be fulfilled. Take what you will of this. Now I want to do another of this scene but it's Sakura who witnesses it and goes a bit yandere.**

**Following are just review responses.**

**nxkris:** I'm planning on him developing his own, from what I recall of the VN he can't exactly 'use' Archer's UBW, more like the knowledge of it is filtered into him, like the soul resonance between the two just in a more painful manner.

**4eros:** Yea, Shirou not having much of an opinion of Hideyoshi's death is a bit of a hole. I put it down to the heat of the moment from being flung somewhere through time and space, Archer's arm mssing with his head, immediately dropping into a combat zone, adrenaline pumping etc. And thanks for the recommendation on that manga. Read it and enjoyed it and like where its going. I'm going to borrow something from it, but not the really in depth knowledge and philosophy Ken has of cooking. It's full of symbolism that I don't really get.

**GaeDearg: **Yea, I would have to agree the conversation was a bit weird. Its something I'm trying to get better at, my dialogue is usually a bit stilted. Magic I did address previously but I'll give a bit more detail. Like I said I don't it to be a big deal, so it will only matter to some people, like Hanbei, or that priest I don't remember his name. People like Nobuna will just see it as a tool and for her right now it's just to make swords. She doesn't know he can make a sword that shoots beams of light or that he can shoot an arrow that will pretty much guarantee kill anything.

**TeiKEY-SaMa: **Thanks for reminding me, that thing just flew right over my head.

**All the other reviewers with generic types of 'interested' 'good job' sort of reviews: **Thanks for reading and reviewing. I appreciate it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: See the first chapter.**

**Ah, got this out now. Finals are over and I couldn't sleep so I decided to finish editing this. Some parts of this I'm not happy with. Others I am. Let me know what you think.**

Shirou was sitting in his modest abode pondering how to attack the problem. In front of him was the cases of 3000 kan and to both sides of it was Goemon and Inuchiyo both watching him.

It occurred to Shirou that he had no idea what to do. Before, he didn't have much of a need for money since he lived a very modest lifestyle and the only major outlets for spending was on the large amounts of food that Taiga and then Saber demanded. The obvious solution was to make the 3000 kan needed to afford 8000 koku. The first thought was that he could work a job for the week. But it was unlikely he would even be able to make that 3000 kan in a week, never mind even if he did reach that goal, it was unlikely he'd be able to purchase all 8000 koku with 6000 kan because of the fluctuation of market prices.

Shirou's eye's widened as that though struck him. Of course. Market prices fluctuated. Unlike in modern times where most everything was standardized in prices because of influences of things such as a global economy, minimum wages, and consumer products. In this era though there wasn't any of that, and from village to village, each one would have various prices for goods. He could do that. Except he had no idea of the economy from village to village. He decided to pose the question to the girls.

"Ok, my idea is to sell goods from town to town in order to increase the 3000 kan we have. Do either of you have an idea of the market values of various goods of the various towns around us?"

Inuchiyo shook her head no, understandable, she was a warrior, so she wouldn't have a vast knowledge of things of that sort.

"I may know one or two people who could hwelp us out but it would take at least a dway or two in order for me to contact them." Goemon said, failing to hide the accompanying embarrassment at her stutters.

"Thank you Goemon-chan." Shirou said with a smile, "That is an option. Any other options you two can think of."

"Rescue princesses," Inuchiyo remarked, but with a light teasing tone to her voice.

"Saving people huh," Shirou rolled the words on his tongue, as he raised his hand to rub his chin. Inuchiyo rolled her eyes at him. "While it wouldn't really be good to charge for helping others, if it's something we must do, then so be it. We'll leave that one in reserve." The three returned their thoughts on the matter.

"Don't need money. Just get rice."

"What do you mean Inuchiyo-chan?" Shirou asked, stumped on her point.

"I understand," Goemon interjected. She pulled out a small map before laying it on the floor. It featured a rather detailed look at the borders between Imagawa and Owari. Goemon traced a road that crossed the border and deep into Imagawa. "Imagawa has been buying up lwarge amounts of rwice. Currently the Matsudaira Motoyasu is in residence at Okazaki Cwastle as is her's and the Imagawa fworces. Along this road the rice shipments are supposed to bwe traveling. We can capture the rice we need there."

"Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You're saying we should steal the rice instead of buying it." Goemon gave Shirou an 'are you stupid' look. "But that's wrong." Shirou glanced over to Inuchiyo hoping that this wasn't what she meant.

"Not wrong. At worst it is dishonorable." She said, denying Shirou's hope. "Market not reliable. Charging to help wrong. Stealing from the enemy ok."

"As she said. Your mission is to get 8000 koku worth of rwice. This option satisfwies that while awlso damaging the Imagwawa as well as further proving your worth." Goemon's explanation was concise, outlining all the benefits for Shirou.

He understood that this method would be the best for him, highlighting his skills in combat, ability to come up with a battle plan and show his initiative, all good things that would further prove his worth to Nobuna. So he would do so. He had already thrown away his wish to be an Ally of Justice by choosing to save Sakura. Relieving himself of a few hanger-on's of that wish would be fine.

"Are you sure Goemon-chan, Inuchiyo-chan?" The two girls both nodded yes to his question. "Very well, we'll make plans tonight and leave tomorrow morning.

* * *

According to Goemon's information, the shipment they were raiding was made of three wagons carrying 20,000 koku in total. Shirou, Goemon, Inuchiyo and the small band of men under Goemon's command stealthily made their way through the Imagawan forests until they came to their planned for ambush area. The road turned at this point and the forest made it so that anyone approaching from the opposite direction of the wagons would be unable to see the attack. Goemon reported a total manpower of sixteen guards. Two were Samurai, outfitted in their armor and riding horses at the rear of the formation. The remaining fourteen men were simple footman wearing a plain iron breastplate along with an iron jingasa, a style of conical helmet. Each wagon had a driver and a guard armed with a short sword and arquebus. The eight remaining marched in columns of four one on each side of the wagons, each man carrying a spear. The ambush plan was to be fast, archers and Shirou firing at the drivers and their gun-bearing guards. They would then rush the remaining soldiers, quickly kill them and turn the wagons around.

Shirou hardened his heart as the wagons approached. He would have to kill his opponents, or at least injure them to incapacitation. He was well rested and thinking clearly, so it would be easier to go for the latter.

The wagons approached the turn. The samurai were alert but the foot soldiers weren't. Shirou nodded to the men next to him before letting fly his arrow. The others followed. His arrow struck the driver in the chest, it was close to being fatal, and would be if it wasn't treated. It didn't matter as another shot dug into the driver's neck, a strike that would kill the man soon if not immediately. The other shots mostly hit their intended targets. Only a couple missed and those were shots meant for drivers. All the gun carrying guards had been killed in the initial volley.

Shirou and the rest rushed out of the trees as the foot soldiers clamored to form a coherent line with spears set. The Samurai charged in response to an enemy making themselves visible, yelling battle cries on their horses. Inuchiyo engaged one of them and Shirou the other.

His circuits already flicked on and running from tracing a bow and arrow, Shirou proceeded to trace again, this time the married swords Kanshou and Bakuya. Shirou shifted out of the way and deflected the charging samurai's naginata with Kanshou's black edge. Shirou turned about to see the samurai turning his horse around and gripping his naginata to charge again. He did so, naginata held high in order to slash Shirou in half. Shirou ducked the blow and managed to stab Bakuya into the horse's side before it once again passed him, the horses' momentum pulling the white sword out of his grip as it crashed behind him.

The samurai came up from the horses' fall with a roll, somehow maintaining his grip on the naginata. Shirou faced the man, Kanshou remaining in his right hand. A pause passed between the two, allowing Shirou a good look at the man. He was middle aged with a groomed mustache and side burns peeking out from underneath his helm. His armor was a mix of black and red made in the traditional style of overlapping plates.

The advantage was in the samurai's favor at the moment. Kanshou and it fellow blade Bakuya were both piandaos, Chinese short swords designed for slashing movements. The naginata gave the samurai a much greater range then Shirou and so his first difficulty would be getting within the naginata's reach. Not only that, but if the man decided to use the katana on his hip, he would still have the advantage in reach.

Before Shirou could make his move, the samurai announced himself. "Coward! I am Tanaka Ichigo! Now you face me on the field of honorable combat. Tell me your name so that I may know who's life I take today."

"I am Emiya Shirou," He responded before charging. A head on charge would be foolish and Tanaka knew that by the expression on his face. However a head on charge was not what Shirou meant to do. Shirou moved toward Tanaka only enough for him to believe that he was Shirou's target. Once that was accomplished and Tanaka had taken a stance ready to skewer him Shirou immediately shifted his direction to skirt Tanaka's reach and retrieve Bakuya still lodged in the horse's corpse.

Tanaka's attempted strike at realizing this was easily dodged and Shirou grabbed Bakuya's comfortable hilt before spinning about with both blades presented at the ready.

No word were exchanged as Tanaka took the initiative this time and attacked with a loud battle cry, his naginata coming in a great sweeping strike. Shirou backed out its reach before making to move forward. Tanaka was skilled enough with the Japanese polearm that he managed to reverse the weapon's movement and strike as Shirou moved forward.

Kanshou and Bakuya were snapped up to block the returning blade. Normally, Tanaka's strike would be able to push Shirou back with the great power behind the naginata. But Kanshou and Bakuya were both Noble Phantasms, C- rank at that, exponentially better simple steel and wood that made up Tanaka's mundane naginata. As a result, the impact rocked Shirou but in return the naginata was cut and splintered at the two impact points from the twin blades, rendering the polearm useless.

Shirou regained his balance quickly enough, but Tanaka wasn't able to recover from his surprise as fast. Shirou took advanatage and darted in to score a strike on the man's chest. Bakuya made a show of its exquisite quality again as it dug into Tanaka's chest with only his instinct born from years of training and the quality armor of the Tanaka family preventing the strike from being debilitating or fatal.

He hopped backwards, while dropping the polearm and drawing his katana in one fluid movement. He looked as if he was to say something but Shirou didn't let him, reinforcing both his arms and striking with both Kanshou and Bakuya. Tanaka was careful to block Shirou's strikes by deflecting the black and white swords rather then head on blocks. The destruction of the naginata had made its mark on him.

Unfortunately for Tanaka, Shirou was moving at inhuman speeds due to his reinforcement. Tanaka was also not as skilled with the katana as he was the naginata, so it was only a matter of time before Shirou's fierce attack got through his defenses.

Kanshou sped by Tanaka's a moment too late defense and scored a deep cut along his left arm, causing Tanaka to flinch and let in Bakuya to get a more decisive cut on Tanaka's right arm by severing the muscles. The katana dropped and Shirou followed up by striking Tanaka upside the head with the flat of Kanshou, knocking him out.

Shirou quickly moved to the man's backside and struck the man on his arms, severing the muscles and rendering them useless. Tanaka looked up at Shirou hateful fire burning in his eyes. "Kill me. I am useless now. Kill me Shirou Emiya and let me retain my honor.

Shirou watched the man crumple to the ground, blood coming out of his various wounds. He had gone for the last move when he had seen the chance. He hadn't killed today, not technically, the wagon driver wasn't his fault, and that was good. Shirou was a protector, not a killer he believed. Those thoughts would do for now.

Inuchiyo, Goemon and the small band had finished their fights, the other samurai dead and the rest of the soldiers joining him. . Those still living had been moved to the side of the road and the dead on the other side. Shirou joined Goemon and Inuchiyo at the head of the wagons before they all set off.

He gave the two girls sitting next to him a smile before saying. "All done. Let's head home." Whatever response the two had was lost as Shirou began to scream out in pain, clutching his left arm and then blacking out.

* * *

Shirou awoke to find himself back in his small abode wrapped in a warm futon with a towel on his head. With his awakening so did the feeling of pain resonating in his body. Being burned and stabbed, it was a familiar pain, one that he associated with Archer's arm. Except the only problem being that he shouldn't be feeling pain. The work Rin had done to him by sharing her Magic Crest prevented the pain unless he wished to access the abilities latent in Archer's arm. If it wasn't stopping the pain anymore, then it must be gone. However, Shirou would manage. He had before Rin had helped him, and he would do so now. He sat up, ignoring the pain in his body and suppressing it through the Shroud. Luckily that was still there and hadn't been removed. If it had, he probably wouldn't be alive any more.

The sound of a shoji sliding open alerted him to someone entering the room. It was Goemon, a worried look evident on her covered face. The sight of him sitting up caused her to rush forward and look him over closely. "Are you ok? You just screamed and collapsed we dwidn't know what to dwo. Inuchiyo didn't you didn't have anwy obvious wounds. It was really scary."

Shirou patted her on the head, bringing her ministrations to a stop. "It's nothing but an old wound. You don't need to worry about it. More importantly, did we get the rice shipment back?"

"If you say so. The shwipment was delivered and Nobuna has it. Inuchwiyo handled that while I took care of you."

"Ah. I should go see her then," Shirou said, attempting to get up. Unfortunately he moved Archer's arm to brace himself, sending waves of pain up the arm. Instinctively he grabbed it with his own hand while wincing despite his resolution to ignore it. Goemon didn't miss his actions however, pushing him back down gently onto the futon and pulling the blanket over him.

"You don't know how to take cware of ywourself. Inuchiyo will take care of rice shwipment so you get your rest. Nene will be making dinner lwater and we'll wake you thwen. Now, rest, dwon't strain yourself." Goemon told him, the look in her eyes brooking no denial.

"Alright Goemon-chan."

Goemon left shortly after that, trusting him to follow her instructions. Shirou spent the next few hours focusing on dulling the pain in his arm and triggering the shock from movement a few times in order to grow used to it. It wasn't easy, but it was coming along. He'd need to find an actual weapon to use now. He'd also need to practice his own magecraft more now. Without the protection from Rin's crest it would be harder for him to access his own circuits when Archer's circuits were always open and ready to be used.

Dinner wasn't a lively affair, rather solemn actually. Goemon's comments on how his collapse had scared both her weren't too inaccurate. Inuchiyo had taken to watching him like a hawk, making sure that he had no continual problems. Goemon was by his side, his silent ninja, and ready to assist him. Nene was rather exuberant, and if Shirou had any more experience in determining people's emotions, he would have called her over-exuberant. Shirou himself was careful in his movement obviously favoring his right but making attempts to use his left.

When Shirou announced that he would be going to see Nobuna, Inuchiyo had insisted that she go with him and Shirou understood well enough that she meant to watch over him and ensure he didn't have any trouble. Arriving at the mansion that was Nobuna's home he was directed to find her in her room. Inuchiyo waited respectfully at the foot of the stairs while he took them up. He took a second to admire the Nobuna's room. He wanted to call it more of a study or workshop then to call it a bedroom. Various knick knacks were littered around, furs littering the ground, a raised bed rather than futon in the back and other sorts of things, each with a different origin. Nobuna herself was dressed her usual casual clothing, and sitting next to a globe, spinning it and staring at it wistfully.

* * *

Shirou bowed respectfully when she noticed him. "I've come to give my apologies for not being able to see you earlier."

She cocked her head at him, pondering his statement. "Earlier…? Oh yes. There was no trouble."

Silence reigned for a bit, Shirou wondering how he should keep up the conversation. His plan to save Nobuna would require him to be friends with her, except Shirou didn't really know how to begin that process. She answered for him.

"Monkey… You're from the future right?"

Shirou rose from his bow before answering. "Yea."

"Hm…" Nobuna said nodding to herself, "What's it like in the future?"

"Well, it's very different." Shirou rubbed his chin in thought, his statement made to start his thoughts.

"Of course it would be different you idiot monkey," She said as he gathered his thoughts.

He waved his hands in a placating manner. "Sorry, sorry, it's just that I don't know where to start. There's planes that people use to fly around, horses and wagons have been replaced by cars and other automated vehicles, people have flown to the moon and landed on it. There is just so much stuff to talk about I don't know what you would enjoy specifically."

"Dearuka… Well that would be expected I guess."

"Well, what if I told you about the foreigners. The barbarians as you called them?" Judging from her choice in decorations, Shirou assumed that Nobuna enjoyed hearing about other places.

Nobuna paused in her spinning of the globe, "Really? You know of such things?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"While I may not have finished my schooling yet, there was a lot of teaching on places beyond Japan, let me show you," He gestured to the globe to illustrate his point.

Nobuna removed her hand from the globe, letting him continue. Shirou spun it a few times, getting that strange feeling when one turns a globe, before lightly brushing its surface to slow it down. His finger stopped the globe once it landed on an old representation of Japan. "This here is us. Japan. Across from us is Korea and down to the south is China, well rather in this time period China would be known as Ming, I don't recall what Korea was called." He said as he dragged his finger to indicate the two other countries.

A light touch spun the globe until it was stopped on Europe. "This area is known as Europe, and is where those you call barbarians come from. In modern times they are known as westerners. I believe in this time period, the Europe is in a period of exploration and because of that, various ships from these countries, Spain and Portugal…"

Nobuna watched in amazement, and a light red blush across her cheeks as she watched Shirou speak. It was amazing really, what was basic knowledge to him to her was something new and fantastic. This was really a momentous thing for her, before she didn't really have someone to speak to about the subject of the barbarians. Her friends would listen to her and nod along to what she said, believing her because she said it, while her detractors and those neutral to her would call her a fool when she spoke of such subjects. The one person she could actually converse with was a dear friend, more of a mentor, who was gone now. But now she had another person that she could talk to. Shirou, he didn't call her a fool, he didn't just go along with what she said, he knew, literally understood what she was talking about.

"On the other hand, the rest of the countries, or those that have the capability, like England here, or France, in addition to Spain and Portugal, sent exploration ships going west rather than east. This big are in the middle, which is actually wrongly drawn on this globe, is called the Americas, with a North America and South America respectively." Nobuna noticed that her thoughts had caused her to miss what Shirou had just said, as he had seemed to move onto a new subject, which was just as interesting as the last.

"You know the barbarians will invade, correct?" She interrupted, a bit hesitant because she enjoyed what he was speaking about, but eager to have her suspicions confirmed.

A frown crossed Shirou's face as he considered her question. He would have to tread carefully, or end up revealing key portions of history. Her fears of invasion from without and the takeover of Japan because of the splintered state of the various Daimyos during the period were well founded, but about a couple hundred years early. "Ah… Well the answer to that is yes. But the by the time it happened, Japan was unified, and there were few problems."

He hoped that his answer was sufficient, and it was true, there hadn't been an actual _war_ or violent action taken when Japan was forced out of its period of seclusion by a group of American warships lead by Commodore Matthew Perry.

"Monkey, what do you think of me?" Her question took him by surprise. Was what he said unsatisfactory? She continued before he could reply, "Whenever I talk about the barbarians, nobody believes me. They call me a fool for my obsessions, but you, Monkey, you understand that. So, what do you think of me?"

Or it could be that she was looking for some sense of understanding or approval from one who could share with her in her joys. Many great people who had a major influence on the world, whether as leaders or as scientists or philosophers were comparatively different from their peers and because of that tended to be called idiots. That is Nobuna's position. Her dreams and ambitions are so big, that others can't understand her and so call her fool.

"You're no fool Nobuna-sama. It is simply that you are too smart for the rest of them. I know that you are no fool, you write your name into the annals of history as one of the most powerful daimyos of the period. I swear to you, I will be at your side until you have reached your dreams." Shirou's promise occurred to him to be similar to an oath of service.

"I will be your… knight." He finished, using the English word for knight, rather than saying samurai. Despite being Japanese and swearing to Nobuna, it seemed more correct to consider himself a knight. It was probably the influence from Saber.

"Knight…" Nobuna said in a whisper with a minor blush to her cheeks. She had heard the word before, from her teacher about the barbarians. Knights were like Samurai, being sworn warriors for a lord. But knights, at least from her learning had a distinctly more romantic appeal to them, rescuing damsels in distress, protecting the weak and fighting for noble and honorable ideals such as generosity, compassion, loyalty and integrity. Her face took on a dreamy look as she recalled those tales. She recalled the manner in which she had first met Shirou, him playing the part of a knight coming to the aid of a young damsel. "Very well then. It's only fitting that you have a title to go with your new position."

"New position?" Shirou asked.

"I guess no one has told you yet. As a reward for going above and beyond my expectations with retrieving the rice, you are being given the position as one of my generals. So to go along with your new position, you will be known as my knight. Nobuna's Knight." Nobuna said, her previous dreamy look gone and replaced with her stern commanding face.

"Ah… thank you." Shirou was genuinely surprised at the promotion, but he felt it was for the best if he took it in stride.

Unfortunately, Nobuna didn't hold that same belief. "Hmmph, if you don't appreciate I can just demote you down being my sandal bearer. Both Goemon and Inuchiyo would probably appreciate an equivalent award if you're not so accepting."

"No its fine Nobuna-sama, I will gladly take my place as your knight. I am very thankful that I can serve you in such a way. I do have to ask though, will I still have access to the kitchens?" Shirou answered at the look in her eyes. She had been looking at him with a prideful glare, not to indifferent from those Rin would sometimes give him.

"You really like to cook don't you? Fine, I don't know why you would think you wouldn't be able anyway. You're an idiot monkey sometimes you know?"

"He he," Shirou chuckled while scratching the back of his head, "I've been called an idiot a lot. I kind of expect it now to be honest."

"Only an idiot would say something like that. I'm tired so I'm going to bed. Go home, unless you want to perve on me changing." She said that with doom being prophesized on her face if he did do something perverted.

"Alright alright, I'm going then. I'll see you tomorrow then Nobuna-sama." She waved him off as he made for the stairs.

"Goodnight monkey," He heard her say as he reached the bottom.

"Goodnight to you to as well Nobuna-sama."

**Terms****:**

Kan: A Japanese unit of mass that refers to 1000. The money that Shirou receives, Yoshiharu in the anime and light novel, is called koban. The usage of kan refers to the amount of koban received.

Koku: A reference to an amount of rice that is generally meant to mean enough rice to feed someone for a year.

Goemon's speech, the 'w': In the light novel translation I've read this is how her speech impediment is presented. Goemon herself has a limit of about thirty characters she can say without incurring the impediment.

Jingasa: A style of hat, similar to the typical conical hat. In Japanese it is considered a "war hat" and was typically worn by the ashigaru.

Piandao: A style of chinese short sword, similar in design to a sabre or shamshir.

Dearuka: A phrase Nobuna uses. It has a variety of meanings mostly based off of the context. Generally it means "I see."

Ming: During the period China would've been known as Ming because in the Sengoku Era, China was under the Ming dynasty.

Commodore Matthew Perry: The event refered to here is the the forcible opening of Japan to trade by the aforementioned man.

**So an issue I've realized that may come out of this story is that I may end up with a rehash of canon. I don't want that. But some things are rather set in stone because Shirou hasn't had a chance to make that big of an influence on the Ambition-verse. Some things will be different and some will be the same. **

**Moving past that, a few things. I tried to write an at least acceptable action scene, the battle between Tanaka and Shirou. Let me know your opinion on it. I've also tried to work on dialogue. Most of that effort went into the Nobuna-Shirou scene reminiscent of the Nobuna-Yoshiharu scene from the anime. Let me know your opinion on that too. After doing some reading of the light novel, I decided to integrate some things that give more feeling to the characters, like Goemon's speech. **

**Also its been a long time since I've read Fate, well 'played'. I've never been big on visual novels, and my first time playing Fate was rather excruciating. If I'm going to read something I'm going to read a book or something, if I'm going to play a game I'll play something like CoD or SC2. So as a result I don't remember much in detail from the book, nor do I have an in depth knowledge of the Nasuverse. What I do know comes from my (poor) memory, the Type-Moon wiki, fanfictions or regular wikipedia. **

**Any comments, ideas, opinions, fact checking, etc. are always welcome, whether it be in a review or through a pm. **

**Now, review responses.**

**TheGreatHazelnut: **Generic reviews are appreciated. Its always good to see someone enjoyed what I wrote and so I thank you for writing a generic review.

**Ultima-Owner: **Leaving people alive has consequences and benefits, as seen by Yoshiharu in canon.

**GoingGone: **I don't know what you refer to by MoS so, eh. Shirou at that point was exhausted at the time so his lack of an emotional response appears fine in my eyes.

**nxkris: **Shirou's magecraft and his growing abilities and interactions with Archer's arm are something I have a plan for. Aoi Tohsaka, I had no idea that Rin's mother's name was Aoi. I just put a name in and lo and behold, that name is canon. I'm leaning toward the Ambition-verse being different from regular Nasuverse. Doesn't mean there won't be familiar names.

**korrd****: **Shirou's kyuudo was an interesting write. I'm glad you liked it. Canon-Nasuverse characters are probably going to remain in the realm of omakes. Probably. Maybe.

**Dp11: **Archer's arm is working differently. Partly because plot relevance, and partly because of my understanding on how that stuff works.

**SixthRanger****: **'Monkey King' sounds... un-Shirou. He gets the monkey title because he takes Yoshiharu's place who takes Hideyoshi's place. But Shirou's always struck me as being more of a knight then a king.

**SteelyBlur: **I get that it can appear a bit slow. But that's why this is fanfiction. I don't have an editor looking over my shoulder telling me to cut 2/3 of what I write. That's not a good excuse. I'd say its more of a things move at their own pace. A lot of events in Ambition of Oda Nobuna occur because people other then Yoshiharu do something. Most of it is really Yoshiharu being an add-on to whatever event is going on. Well until the end where he takes a more central part of the plot.

**Misteltainn: **My opinion is that HF normal Shirou may have thrown away his ideals but that ideal is something that he grew up with for most his life. Saving people is a natural instinct to him, so it just happens. Of course because he threw away that ideal also means that whatever new ideal he holds is more prone to change.

**Stiama: **What I remember, well the ending this Shirou takes, Shirou is gone. Vanished, and its heavily implied he's dead. But that's what I remember and so that's what happened in this story. Fanfiction AU woo! Like I said, my Nasu knowledge isn't very firsthand so some things are down to interpretations by me. Archer's arm is one of those, and its role it plot relevant.

**EvG: **Another reviewer suggested Chef of Nobuna and I have read it now. Loved it. Can't wait for the next issue. So I'll probably be stealing a few things from it.

**pltrgst: **I've tried incorporating some of that. But other things I don't have the relevant understanding to use. Kansai dialect? My understanding is that its similar to a country dialect in America. Old Japanese speech, lolwut? I don't know Japanese so I wouldn't know how to distinguish between dialects, region or time-period specific.

**aznxa21: **My understanding is that Shirou has access to Archer's blueprints of the various swords he's seen in his lifetime and can utilize Archer's skill of tracing. But that is Archer's ability, not his and it is partially deadly to him. One ending of Heaven's Feel route was that Shirou overuses UBW and ends up killing himself, or something like that.

**blackmamuth:** I hope I answered your thoughts on canon rehashing earlier. My opinion on Nobuna giving him the rice task was more to see how he works under a complicated situation, making more out of something.

**anon156: **Its an omake so... eh. For Rin, she comes from another universe thats at least a few years past the normal ending of UBW route. So character changes can be acceptable. Shirou is going to change in this story so again, differences in character are understandable. But again, its an omake.

**For those I didn't answer, thank you for the reviews. Its always great to see someone responding to my story in some way, whether it be positively or negatively. **


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